HOW DRUGS NOT ONLY EFFECT YOU BUT EVERYONE AROUND YOU

When life throws you lemons, and you hate lemonade, it might seem rational to turn to other avenues of escapism, including the extreme highs of drugs. We’ve all seen it or experimented with a toke or two, the instant high and disconnected euphoria associated with some of the streets highest sellers are a seductive choice if you feel like you have no way out. May as well have some fun while the world implodes, right? While self-deprecation and loathing might lead down that path, drugs aren’t a way to confront, alleviate or resolve a situation. They can be fun, but what’s twenty-four hours of frivolous fancy and head trips compared to ten years watching your body waste away? Drugs are addictive, habit forming substances, from seemingly harmless over the counter packets of paracetamol to the bad boys of the illicit narcotics world.

So what’s the difference between illicit drugs and legal drugs? After all, alcohol is legal and the wrong combination can be a deadly mistake waiting to happen. Why pick on Micro Dots, Cocaine and Pot? A Google search offers no hard answers as to why certain drugs are restricted and illegal for personal use, distribution and possession, but they all seem to have a few things in common – their potency, the harmful extent of their side effects, how fast people become addicted, the decline in mental and emotional health of the user, the physical dangers those user pose to people around them and the danger they pose to themselves.

We would all like to believe we could snort a line of cocaine or smoke an ice pipe without anything too terrible happening – unfortunately, it takes exactly once before everything absolutely falls to pieces and we’re hooked to something that will ride our bodies to ruin. If the thought of the hooded guy with a scythe isn’t enough to communicate just how serious drugs can be, think of people around you. Would you want to submit your family to the following?

Your Partner

Do you remember everything you loved about your significant other when you first met? On your first anniversary? Your wedding day or the first night in a new home together? Imagine the drug to a third wheel in all of those memories, a dark fog descending over happy recollection until the only thing your loved one is left with is you, as you are now. By taking drugs, you pull your partner down into despair with you, making them question their self-worth and encouraging feelings of helplessness as you shut them out, act like somebody else or worse, start abusing them – verbally or physically. If you have children, your partner will try and protect them from you and hide your behaviour from other people. You become someone to fear.

Your Children

Children are special beings, a combination of you and your partner, whole and wonderful creations just beginning to explore their lives. Remember the magic of your own childhood? Family holidays and BBQ’s? Birthday parties and imaginary games down the back yard, playing in the mud and simply enjoying the sunlight on the first day of summer holidays? An addicted parent can change all of that. Children aren’t just pulled down; since they are still forming pieces of themselves, your behaviour and mood projections can severely affect their self-confidence, perceiving themselves to be a burden to you – to survive, the adopt one of four roles as described by Sharon Wegscheider (The Hero, The Scapegoat, The Lost One and The Mascot) – should your children really adopt roles to navigate their home life?

No. This isn’t what you imagined when you were small yourself. Luckily, there are support services Australia-wide that offer open and constructive pathways to solving and healing drug dependency issues. From Non 12 Step Rehab programs, to private and secure hotlines, you have the power to make a change and give drugs the boot for good. Heal yourself and help your family.

<p>So what’s the difference between illicit drugs and legal drugs? After all, alcohol is legal and the wrong combination can be a deadly mistake waiting to happen. Why pick on Micro Dots, Cocaine and Pot? A Google search offers no hard answers as to why certain drugs are restricted and illegal for personal use, distribution and possession, but they all seem to have a few things in common – their potency, the harmful extent of their side effects, how fast people become addicted, the decline in mental and emotional health of the user, the physical dangers those user pose to people around them and the danger they pose to themselves. </p>

<p>We would all like to believe we could snort a line of cocaine or smoke an ice pipe without anything too terrible happening – unfortunately, it takes exactly once before everything absolutely falls to pieces and we’re hooked to something that will ride our bodies to ruin. If the thought of the hooded guy with a scythe isn’t enough to communicate just how serious drugs can be, think of people around you. Would you want to submit your family to the following? </p>

<h3>Your Partner</h3>

Do you remember everything you loved about your significant other when you first met? On your first anniversary? Your wedding day or the first night in a new home together? Imagine the drug to a third wheel in all of those memories, a dark fog descending over happy recollection until the only thing your loved one is left with is you, as you are now. By taking drugs, you pull your partner down into despair with you, making them question their self-worth and encouraging feelings of helplessness as you shut them out, act like somebody else or worse, start abusing them – verbally or physically. If you have children, your partner will try and protect them from you and hide your behaviour from other people. You become someone to fear.

<h3>Your Children</h3>

Children are special beings, a combination of you and your partner, whole and wonderful creations just beginning to explore their lives. Remember the magic of your own childhood? Family holidays and BBQ’s? Birthday parties and imaginary games down the back yard, playing in the mud and simply enjoying the sunlight on the first day of summer holidays? An addicted parent can change all of that. Children aren’t just pulled down; since they are still forming pieces of themselves, your behaviour and mood projections can severely affect their self-confidence, perceiving themselves to be a burden to you – to survive, the adopt one of four roles as described by Sharon Wegscheider (The Hero, The Scapegoat, The Lost One and The Mascot) – should your children really adopt roles to navigate their home life?

<p>No. This isn’t what you imagined when you were small yourself. Luckily, there are support services Australia-wide that offer open and constructive pathways to solving and healing drug dependency issues. From <a href=”http://www.non12step-rehab.com/”>Non 12 Step Rehab</a> programs, to private and secure hotlines, you have the power to make a change and give drugs the boot for good. Heal yourself and help your family. </p>